Editor’s Note: This Letter to the Editor could not be more timely. Now, MANA rep members and manufacturer members can endorse each other, so reps like Jim Rinehart can see what other reps say about manufacturers contacting them for representation.

For more information about how to endorse a MANA member or get a MANA member to endorse you, see Charles Cohon’s “MANA Minute” editorial in this issue of Agency Sales magazine.

Hello Charles,

I am asking you for input on my search for a new principal. As a one-man band and a very successful rep organization, I take on few principals. I have three principals. My stamping and machining firm have been with me for more than 25 years. My newest principal has been on board for six months. By doing this, I give them all special attention and outperform large rep organizations.

I specialize in diversifying my principal’s customer base. I have learned over my 35 years in the business that if a principal wants to diversify, they need the tools to do so. For instance, a fabrication supplier can diversify faster if they are vertically integrated or can invest in programs that make them competitive. If they don’t/can’t, they flounder in their own pool of capabilities that fit a small niche.

However, if they are a unicorn, and I have one, I know how to get them to market. A unicorn is a company that is leading the field, possibly lapping the field in capability that will one day become a norm.

I do not represent companies that do not have a differentiator. For instance, an injection molder that can mold recycled material, a stamping company that produces very difficult parts, a company that serves the auto market well and needs to move into the commercial and industrial markets. Most reps don’t grind long enough to get these principals to market, don’t know how to use marketing information to capture the attention they deserve or know how to continue building prospects after they exhaust their immediate relationships. Again, because I represent few lines, I am prepared to be in the relationship for the long haul and succeed with these unicorns.

My question to you is: Do you know any unicorns, companies that have true differentiators that want to diversify their customer base, or a process that needs unique marketing?

Jim Rinehart
President
JMT Manufacturing Consultants
Greer, South Carolina